Ecuadorean protest leaders pressed for a greater percentage of oil revenue to remain in the country and for Occidental Petroleum Corp. to lose its contract during a second day of talks aimed at resolving last week's crippling demonstrations.

Tiny oil producer Ecuador is considering rejoining the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in a political move even though the cartel's quota system may stymie the poor South American nation's own industry. With its daily output of 530,000 barrels a day, only about 5% that of OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, Ecuador would have little sway in the group, which supplies more than 30% of the world's oil.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Wednesday that the recent seizure of its Ecuadorean oil project would cut second-quarter earnings by $306 million. In taking a one-time charge, the Westwood-based company quantified the near-term fallout, after taxes, from the lost investments and oil production at fields that were taken over by the Ecuadorean government in May.

The mother of a Cal State L.A. student slain in Ecuador is pushing for an investigation, claiming that local police in the South American country and the U.S. Embassy are doing little about the case. Gloria Daniela Lopez, 26, was stabbed and her throat slit Sept. 9 in Ambato, Ecuador, where she had been on vacation since late June, said her mother, Gloria Lema of Los Angeles. A family friend, Meghan Kendal, said Lopez also was decapitated and possibly raped. Lopez was studying sociology at Cal State L.A. Lema, who immigrated to the United States from Ecuador 28 years ago, traveled to Ambato after the killing to identify her daughter's body.

Ecuador is trying to salvage its campaign to enlist international sponsors to protect a pristine nature reserve in the Amazon, after an initial drive ended in disarray and doubts about whether President Rafael Correa would leave the park's oil riches untouched. Correa recently appointed former Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa to head a new panel to seek donations from Arab and Asian countries for the 2.4-million-acre Yasuni National Park, one of the world's most biodiverse nature reserves.

QUITO, Ecuador - As the four-car train rolls through the clouds and begins its descent of the Andes, Bette Bleeker has a practical concern. "I hope someone checked the brakes," the Chicago resident asks. It's a fair question, given the 1,755-foot descent we're about to make on the Devil's Nose, one of the steepest sections of railroad in the world. The historic route requires several switchbacks, including one length where the train reverses direction and heads backward as it gingerly stair-steps down the highlands.

President Leon Febres Cordero on Wednesday appointed a former head of Ecuador's central bank, Rodrigo Espinosa, as finance minister after accepting the resignation of Domingo Cordovez Peez, a senior government official said. Cordovez resigned for personal reasons and wishes to devote more time to his business interests, the official said. Espinosa, who takes office immediately, was general manager of Ecuador's central bank from 1976 to 1979.

Edson O. Sessions, 85, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and Ecuador who also headed a foreign aid mission to Thailand during the Eisenhower Administration. Sessions, who headed a large Chicago-based engineering consulting firm founded by his father from 1934 to 1957, also was named a deputy postmaster general by President Dwight D. Eisenhower before being appointed an ambassador by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In Laguna Hills on Sunday.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he was seeking Saudi King Abdullah's permission to sell an expensive set of jewelry the royal gave his wife at the OPEC summit in Riyadh last month. Correa said he wanted to sell the jewels worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars" -- which include earrings and a necklace made of diamonds and emeralds set in white gold -- to finance social programs in Ecuador.

Texaco's star may soon disappear from the eye of the public ["Texaco's Star May Soon Fade," Aug. 20], but the native peoples and farmers of the Ecuadorean rain forest will never forget whose crude operations turned their rivers, land and skies black. A group representing more than 30,000 Ecuadoreans is suing Texaco in U.S. District Court, charging that the company dumped some 4.3 million gallons a day of toxic oil waste water into the Amazon. Texaco also left behind more than 300 open waste pits contaminated with heavy metals and other carcinogenic hydrocarbon compounds.